Samsung Electronics and its largest labor union, the National Samsung Electronics Union (NSEU), have reached an agreement on wage increases for 2024, concluding months of negotiations and averting a potential strike. The company announced on March 29 that it had agreed to an average pay increase of 5.1% for the year.
The agreement was finalized after multiple rounds of talks between company management and union representatives, which had been ongoing since January. These negotiations were overseen by the National Labor Relations Commission, a government body that arbitrates labor disputes.
The NSEU, which represents over 28,000 employees, primarily from the company’s Device Solutions (DS) division responsible for semiconductor manufacturing, had initially demanded a 6.5% pay increase. The union also sought improved vacation policies and more transparent performance-based bonuses.
A central point of the negotiations involved bonuses for the DS division, which recorded an operating loss of 14.9 trillion won (approximately $11 billion) in 2023. The company’s policy ties bonuses to the previous year’s performance, which became a subject of contention during the talks.
Following the agreement, Samsung Electronics issued a statement on its commitment to cooperative labor relations. “The company and the union have made efforts to narrow their differences through continuous communication,” the statement read. “We will continue to communicate to build a win-win labor-management relationship based on mutual respect and trust.”
The union confirmed the deal was reached but noted that the outcome did not fully meet its initial goals. In a statement to its members, the NSEU said it had worked to secure the best possible terms but acknowledged the challenges presented during the talks.
This year’s wage negotiations mark a significant point in the company’s labor relations history. Samsung Group, the parent conglomerate of Samsung Electronics, maintained a policy of not recognizing organized labor unions for nearly five decades. This stance officially ended in 2020 when the company issued a public apology and pledged to uphold workers’ rights to organize.
The NSEU was formed in 2019 and has since become the most prominent union within Samsung Electronics. Had the negotiations failed, the union had secured the legal right to conduct a strike, which would have been the first in the company’s 55-year history. The developments at Samsung, one of South Korea’s largest employers, are often observed by other major corporations and labor groups during the country’s annual spring wage negotiation season.
